Monday, September 22, 2008

End of a great memory - White Rabbit

As Singapore and Malaysia move to ban products from China containing milk or dairy products, what is the NZ food authority doing? Haven’t heard anything at all in the news

Those of us who shop in Asian groceries must therefore be vigilant, and avoid those ultra-cheap candies, preserved foods and biscuits and chocholate wafers from China. Sad as it is, we must do all we can to protect our family from contaminated food.Sad as it is, we must let White Rabbit go - a lolly mom used to give us as treats. I love how the rice paper melted into my mouth and stayed stuck to the roof of my mouth.

Here’s what Singapore and Malaysia have found. Singapore has discovered that White Rabbit Creamy Candy, a milk-based treat popular with children and adults here, has been found to be contaminated with melamine.

Other brands--Dutch Lady strawberry-flavoured milk and Yili Choice Dairy Fruit Bar Yoghurt Flavoured Ice Confection—are also found to be adulterated by the chemical normally found in plastics.

Since 19 Sep 08, the Singapore government’s food watchdog, AVA (Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority) has suspended the import and sale of all milk and milk products from China. These products include milk, ice-cream, yoghurt, confectionery such as chocolates, biscuits and sweets as well as any other products containing milk from China as an ingredient.

Singapore, Malaysia

Singapore’s national daily, The Straits Times, found on Saturday that a 7-Eleven outlet in one of its neighbourhoods, Braddell, had pulled a list of products from its shelves. The list included Snickers bars, M&Ms, Nabisco Chicken In A Biskit, Dove chocolate bars, Mentos yogurt balls, Oreo wafer sticks, and Want Want Take One Baby Bites.

In Malaysia, the Star newspaper reported that: The Government has widened its ban on dairy products imported from China to include confectionary that contain milk, chocolate, chocolate milk, white chocolate and other foods that contain milk. The ban also includes flour-based confectionary products like biscuits.